St Mary's Under Fives

What is it like to attend this early years setting?

Kind and nurturing staff happily welcome children as they arrive for their day at pre-school. Staff make time for parents to share any information to ensure their children are happy and staff can meet their needs successfully. Children hang up their belongings and confidently enter the playroom, ready to start their day. Children are happy and settled.

Since the previous inspection, leaders have sought support from external agencies to help them make positive changes to their practice. Staff use what they have learned from training and their knowledge of the children to create an ambitious curriculum which they tailor around the children's needs. For example, staff use children's interest of dinosaurs and building to incorporate mathematical language into play. Children create structures for dinosaurs with various wooden resources. Staff alongside ask children 'how many' and if there are 'more' or 'less'. Children have access to a variety of learning experiences.

Children learn to have respect for others and their environment. Children recognise when their friend becomes sad because they cannot find any play dough; they look to them and hand them some of their dough to enable them to join the activity. Children beam with happiness and join in with their friends. After a messy activity, children begin to tidy up, using tissues to clean the table. Staff remind the children that using lots of tissues to wipe a small area can be wasteful. They help children find some cloths to wipe the table instead. Children learn to use resources respectfully.

What does the early years setting do well and what does it need to do better?

• Leaders create a happy and inclusive pre-school environment for all that attend. Staff report they enjoy their role and receive invaluable support from leaders and committee members. Staff have access to online training to develop and improve their practice. They have also recently taken part in whole-team training on curriculum delivery and the use of Makaton. The whole team use Makaton to enhance children's communication and they incorporate this into their curriculum for all to learn.
• The key-person system is well established. Staff meet regularly to discuss their key children, share ideas and create next steps for learning. Staff invite parents to have discussions with the key person about their child's development and learning ideas for home. They share video footage with parents of how their children play and interact while at pre-school. Staff know the children very well. They create positive relationships with families. Children are safe and secure and make good progress in their learning.
• Children with special educational needs and/or disabilities are well supported.
• The knowledgeable special educational needs coordinator works closely with parents and external agencies to make timely referrals where needed. Staff use their knowledge of children to create individual learning opportunities to help children make progress. For example, staff support children who can recognise numbers to link the amount of items to the correct number.
• Staff foster children's love of books when they read them a story at group time. Many children eagerly answer questions about the story and most listen with intent. However, staff do not always make their expectations known to children prior to group time. At times, children get up and play with other items, which causes distraction for those that are attempting to listen. Staff do not consistently remind children how to behave and why this is important.
• Staff recognise that some children struggle to regulate their emotions. They have created an 'emotions station' for children to access. Staff use 'The Colour Monster' book as the theme and have various sound buttons in different languages that say feeling words. Children also benefit from a calming sensory area which they use when they need downtime. Staff support children to recognise their feelings and talk to them about these. Children begin to manage and understand their emotions.
• Children confidently make choices of what to play with and most engage with purpose. Children create a narrative with their friends as they enjoy acting out their home experiences in the role-play area, such as when they take their babies to the 'baby park'. However, staff do not always successfully use strategies to support those children who are quieter or demonstrate repetitive play. At times, these children wander disengaged or play for extended periods with limited support from staff to explore a wide range of meaningful learning opportunities.

What the setting must and should do next

The provider should:

• consistently support and remind children of the importance of behaviour expectations during group activities and the impact their actions may have on others
• use strategies to support children that are quieter or need extra support to engage in a wide range of meaningful learning experiences.